Mission: Transfer
by Pretty Shimmie
Summary: AU. Hinata's been feeling lonely since she moved to a new high school, so she and a friend decide to do the impossible: bring her friend in with her! Will their mission be succesful? Or will they be caught by sharp teachers, popular kids, and stalkers?
1. Chapter 1

Hinata exploded with laughter as she linked arms with her best friend, Rikku, and skipped along on the sidewalk. Both had indulged in quite a few scoops of ice cream, therefore altering their ability to be calm and act accordingly to what society expected.

Rikku collapsed on a nearby bench and exhaled deeply. The exhalation was followed by more giggles.

"I don't think I've ever been this hyper!" Hinata squealed, sitting next to her ecstatic friend. Rikku shook her head, trying her best to relax and breathe. (She was failing miserably.)

After a few more minutes of giggling and squirming, the pair managed to calm down and catch their breath.

Rikku tucked a strand of her thick dark hair behind her ear and sighed. "It's too bad that you had to go to public school," she murmured sadly. "Otherwise we could hang out like this all the time instead of just on weekends."

In the past, fifteen-year-olds Hinata and Rikku had been just like sisters. Both had shoulder-length black hair and pale skin. Their birthdays were within one month of each other. They rivaled each other in academics. Their families were in the same business and had been friendly associates for quite some time. In fact, one of their only differences was their eye color. Hinata sported milky lavender eyes while Rikku's were an intense icy blue.

But for their sophomore year, Hinata's parents had decided to send her to a public school as they did not expect her to take over the family business and saw no need to keep financing her private education. She had just finished her first week at North Konoha High with her older cousin Neji, and had never felt more miserable or lonesome in her life. So she decided to invite her best friend Rikku over for a cheer-up sleepover.

Hinata let her head rest on Rikku's shoulder and pouted. "I know. I don't even really like it there. All of the girls are complete whores and most of the guys are rude and conceited."

"Well, it has only been a week. Who knows what all will happen there. You might end up really liking it," Rikku said.

Raising her head, Hinata asked, "But what about you? What ever shall you do without me?" she added dramatically.

Rikku laughed. "You know I'm really in to theatre. I can keep myself busy. Besides, I still have Kohaku," she said, mentioning one of their friends.

Hinata nodded.

"We should probably start heading back to my place," she said softly. "My father will be wondering where we are."

Rikku agreed.

* * *

Neji looked up as the doorbell chimed. Setting the Oreos aside and putting the TV on mute, he licked his lips to remove any stain of chocolate and went to open the door. When he opened it, all he could do was blink.

"Let us in!" Rikku squeaked. "It's getting cold!"

Instead of the cute girl delivering his pizza, Neji was met with two very wet, very cold sophomores.

Hinata grabbed a clump of her skirt and wrung out some of the water.

Neji watched it fall and splatter on the ground.

He blinked again.

"Hinata," he said apathetically. "What were you doing?"

The young Hyuuga cringed, fearing the worst.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? YOUR FATHER HAS CALLED FIVE TIMES WONDERING WHERE YOU WERE, AND…"

"Well," Rikku began. "It's a bit of a long story. You see, we were walking back and the funniest thing happened…"

Neji groaned and said, "Takahashi, save it. Just get in the house."

The two didn't need telling twice. They shot in without another word as Neji slammed the door behind them.

Neji slunk back to the couch and said, "Sorry you had to hear that, guys."

Hinata and Rikku, who had taken up residing in the kitchen, poked their heads over the bar, confused.

Sitting next to Neji were three boys.

Rikku's eyes widened as Hinata's face flushed brighter than the sun. Hinata could name them all too—they were friends of Neji's from school.

Uchiha Sasuke, Nara Shikamaru, and Aburame Shino.

Shino was actually an acquaintance of Hinata, but he was better friends with her cousin. Probably because they both rarely talked.

Sasuke and Neji were like replicas of each other. Both were quiet, stoic, reserved, rich, and (by other girls' opinions) gorgeous.

Shikamaru, like his companions, was a certified genius. He was just too lazy to have much of a social life.

Hinata feared that they would make fun of her or that Rikku would say something embarrassing to them, but thankfully, they were all too busy watching TV to notice and Rikku had a practically nonexistent attention span. She had taken off her shoes and had begun to slide on the tile floor in her wet socks. Hinata soon followed suit.


	2. Chapter 2

Hinata's bed squeaked as she sat down on the edge and started unwrapping the towel twisted on her head. She squeezed some of the excess water out.

Rikku, who had taken the first shower, had already pleated her hair into two neat braids.

How they got wet in the first place was all Rikku's fault.

The truth of the matter was that on their way back home Rikku wanted something to giggle about (yes, think back to her short attention span), so she slowed her pace until Hinata was about a foot in front of her. At that point in time Rikku lunged onto Hinata's back and gripped her hands over her friend's pale eyes. It turns out that they were walking past a fountain. It also turns out that Hinata has horrible balance.

Hinata never minded when Rikku did things without thinking. That was just who she was.

Just like how Hinata was a generally shy and reserved person who gave up when she was intimidated by a challenge.

When they were younger, Neji had always said that the two completed each other.

How Rikku's carefree attitude brought out Hinata's sense of adventure while Hinata's rule-abiding nature drew out Rikku's sweet, silent side.

But that was when he cared enough to say stuff like that.

Hinata sighed, thinking about all this. Thinking about how it would never be like this again. Just her and Rikku.

Rikku, having finally reached a much calmer and focused state of being, glanced out the window.

"I'm gonna miss this," Rikku murmured finally.

Hinata nodded.

"It's too bad we can't be like this forever."

She nodded again as Rikku's head fell on the bed in defeat.

"If only you could just stay with me," Hinata said sadly, burying her face in her arms.

There was a moment of silence before-

"AHA!"

Hinata let out a scream and fell off of her bed in shock. "What is it?" she asked, visibly frightened by Rikku's sudden outburst of inspiration.

Rikku cackled evilly and gave a demented smile, her ice blue eyes flashing with a rare intensity.

"I've got a plan."

* * *

The next Monday morning, Hinata felt like she would fall over from quaking so much as she walked up the steps to her high school with Neji. He had noticed her fear, but didn't say a word.

They walked in through the doors and Neji headed onward to the cafeteria, leaving Hinata shivering by the door.

She was starting to regret ever agreeing to Rikku's idea.

Now that she thought about it, she was incredibly stupid for saying yes. Rikku constantly thought up half-cooked plans for wild and crazy stunts that usually ended up in turmoil.

But this was the most wild and crazy stunt yet.

After about five minutes of standing by the door in nervous anticipation, trying to ignore the stares she received, a girl walked in.

The girl had layered black hair, held up in two high pigtails with light blue ribbon. Her skirt flaunted her long legs, and her collar was popped. Her bright blue eyes glanced about happily.

"Rikku!" Hinata hissed.

Rikku looked to the Hyuuga. "Yes ma'am?"

"Where have you been?"

"Walking. This place is so big! I couldn't find the front door!"

Hinata rolled her eyes. "Do you realize how stupid this is?"

"No."

Hinata groaned and rubbed her temples. "You realize that if we get caught, we'll both probably be grounded for the rest of the millennium?"

Rikku smiled. Her high cheekbones made her cheeks swell, causing crinkles to appear around her eyes. "Of course I do, but the danger of this makes it all the more fun!"

Hinata couldn't argue with a reply like that. She smiled tiredly.

"Come on," she said. "Let's go get you registered into your classes."

As she led Rikku to the office, she flattened Rikku's collar.

Rikku popped it again.

Thus waged the Battle of the Collar.

* * *

"Ok, I think we're all set! You're good to go Miss Takahashi," the secretary said.

"Goodbye!" Hinata and Rikku replied in unison, bright smiles plastered onto their faces.

The minute they stepped out of the office their smiles dropped, revealing their anxious beliefs.

Rikku let out a monstrous sigh of relief. "I can't believe they fell for it!"

"I can," Hinata said. "You're quite the persuasive person; you talked ME into this too."

Rikku waggled her eyebrows and cocked a confident smile. "It's one of my perks!" she giggled.

The bell rang throughout the school signaling it was time for first period. Rikku confidence plummeted as she screamed and clung to Hinata.

"Where's the fire?" she gasped.

Hinata cracked up. "That's not the fire alarm, silly; it's the bell for first period! Which you actually happen to have with me…Let's get going!"

The empty, echoing halls of the school soon turned into a stockyard; the masses of students reminded Rikku of cows being herded into the packing houses to be slaughtered.

She was starting to feel nervous.

That wasn't a good thing.

Hinata pulled her friend through the crowd, keeping the thought of getting pushed or trampled in mind. And the thought of Neji seeing her and flipping out in mind as well.

* * *

Both made it successfully to first period with all of their body part intact and nothing hurt but Rikku's emotional state of being.

She said it was one of the most terrifying moments of her life and swore she saw her life flash before her eyes.

Their first class of seven was English; Hinata's favorite class.

(Rikku enjoyed it as well, but preferred classes that could keep you more involved like P.E. But she was pretty happy with English too.)

"OK," Hinata said. "Come sit next to me. It'll be a while before Kurenai-sensei comes in, so we can relax for a little bit."

Rikku, wide-eyed, said, "I'll need all the time I can get to relax after that massacre."

Hinata smiled softly and rolled her eyes, ignoring the statement.

"I think you'll like Kurenai-sensei. She's really nice."

At that moment, two girls walked in. Well…walked isn't the correct word. They strutted in like two peacocks flaunting their feathers. They WERE pretty, but all of the strutting they did made them look more sluttish than pretty.

Both had long hair, one pink and the other platinum blonde; both had sparkling eyes, emerald green and flashing turquoise; both were short; both had larger bust lines than Hinata and Rikku combined; and both were talking about the same guy.

Rikku, whose chin rested on her fist, raised and eyebrow and asked, "Who're they?"

Hinata said softly, "The pink haired girl is Haruno Sakura. She nice and all, but she's obsessed with this guy named Sasuke."

"The same one we met the other night?"

"The very same. Now, watch out for the blonde one. Her name is Yamanaka Ino and she's really mean."

"Uh-huh…" Rikku nodded slowly.

Ino walked (strutted) past Rikku and Hinata without a second glance, but Sakura's gaze passed over them with interest.

"Hi Hina," she said in happy voice. "Who's your friend?"

Hinata seemed startled by this sudden advancement in attention and couldn't speak. Her mouth just opened and closed, quite similar to a fish, and her fingers started drumming together nervously.

Rikku smiled confidently and spoke for Hinata. "Hi, I'm Takahashi Rikku. You're…Sakura…right?"

Sakura giggled a little bit and nodded. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Hinata told me."

"Y-yeah…I-I-I did."

"Well God Hina, you never told us you were going to have a friend here!"

"I-I didn't-t-t know ei-ei-either."

Sakura laughed again. "Hina, you're so shy! It's so funny!"

From across the room, Ino yelled, "Sakura, come on! Stop talking to them and come over here!"

"Coming Ino!" Sakura shouted back. "Well, I have to go," she said to Hinata and Rikku. "The Ino-Pig calls! It was nice meeting you though Rikku!"

After Sakura left, Rikku said, "Well she seems nice."

Hinata nodded. "Just be glad she didn't talk about Sasuke though," she muttered. "I get the feeling you're going to hear quite a lot about him…"


	3. Chapter 3

Third period was Algebra 2.

Hinata paid close attention to Asuma-sensei.

Rikku was clutched over her desk, hoping someone would shoot her with a poison dart.

As you may know, Rikku has a small attention span. (She has ADD.) People with ADD cannot concentrate to save their lives, especially when it comes to paying attention to things they highly dislike. Math is not Rikku's favorite thing in the first place.

Thankfully, the class was almost over and Asuma had just finished his lesson.

Asuma pulled his shirt sleeve back to take a peek at his watch. "Alright, there a five minutes left. If you can manage the simple task of keeping your voices down, I'll let you talk for the rest of the class."

His statement was met with cheers and the students immediately moved around to sit near their friends.

Hinata scooted near Rikku and whispered, "Rikku, sit up."

Rikku sat up alright. She was ghostly pale and looked like she would fall over, but she sat up.

Hinata couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh, wake up Sleeping Beauty. No more math today."

Rikku suddenly seemed to be resurrected from an enchanted sleep; her eyes widened, her skin colored, and her hair seemed to volumize slightly.

"Hooray! Ah, I feel so much better. What's next?"

Hinata's face fell. "It's one of the only classes that we don't have together. I have Shakespearian literature and you have Theatre."

Rikku blinked. "So? It's only a class period."

The Hyuuga bit her lip. "That's not the worst part. We have different lunches."

"……………..Oh. Dang it."

* * *

Rikku nervously walked alone on to the theatre room.

People who had first lunch shot past her, pushing and jostling, determined to not be last in the lunch line.

She knew she shouldn't be nervous. There wasn't really much to be nervous about. Other than the fact that there would be boys in there.

At the private school there were no boys. They only met up with boys from another school for the big productions that they did together.

Rikku let out a deep breath when she reached the theatre room. "Ok," she murmured to herself. "You can do this."

Her fingertips had barely touched the doorknob when the door flew open, making Rikku nearly fall over as she reached for the knob. Instead she grabbed a pair of shoulders to steady herself.

A somewhat good-looking boy had opened the door. He had brown hair and harsh, amber eyes. He had obviously been talking to someone as he was leaving and was visibly startled by Rikku.

Rikku giggled a little at her embarrassment. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know you were there."

The boy's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish.

She raised an eyebrow at him and giggled before she walked past him into the class.

As she entered, Rikku surveyed the classroom. It was made up of about twenty boys. Two girls sat in the corner, but hardly seemed interested in anything but their kissing. Rikku shuddered before giving them the blind eye.

Not wanting to be bothered by the boisterous young men who sat on top of desks and played Bloody Knuckles, she sat down next to a quiet, isolated boy with red hair, aquamarine eyes, and too much eyeliner.

The boy watched her warily as she sat down but didn't say a word. Rikku wasn't sure if she liked his silence or not. Yes, he didn't make fun of her, but not knowing could sometimes be worse than being made fun of.

Rikku turned to him and said with a small smile, "Hi. I'm Rikku."

His blank eyes moved to look her up and down. "Gaara," came his nearly inaudible reply.

She smiled again, covering up her doubt as to whether that was his name or his version of a cuss word.

* * *

Hinata sat down next to her somewhat-friend, Kiba, in Shake Lit. Kiba noticed right away that she was upset about something.

"What's wrong Hinata? Why so glum?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I-it's my friend, Rikku-."

Kiba smiled. "Rikku? You mean the one that was at your house last Friday?"

Hinata nodded.

"Shino told me that she was funny. He says he likes her."

Raising an eyebrow, she gave him a questioning glance. "What do you mean? What kind of LIKE?" She didn't mention that she didn't think it was possible for Shino to find something funny. He barely even smiled.

"I dunno. He didn't really say. In fact, that's all he said…But I don't think he wanted to date her. It's been my professional opinion to think that Shino is gay and I don't plan to change my mind."

She smiled as he whispered the last part to her.

Kiba said, "So anyways, what's up with her?"

Hinata sighed. "I'm just worried about her. That's all."

Kiba laughed. "That's crazy! Why are you worried about her?" he said.

Hinata's pale eyes looked to Kiba. "She has a drama class with that quiet red-head in our Science class and his strange brother."

Kiba's dog-like eyes widened as his hands shot to his mouth. "Oh no! Not the Sabaku brothers!"

* * *

Rikku screamed as she ran; stumbling and landing on her back. Leaning up, she sobbed, "Don't do it! Please! Stop!"

Gaara's breathing was heavy and his hands clenched and unclenched as he stopped right in front of her. "Stop my dear?" came his raspy reply. "How can I stop? I've been waiting for this damn moment since the moment I first saw you!"

Rikku screamed again as Gaara leaped onto her, straddling his legs over her waist as his mouth went for her neck.

"Do I actually have to bite you?" he whispered, his mouth right near her ear.

"No," she whispered back. "Just make it look like you're doing it. I'll do the rest."

He lunged for her neck as she writhed and screamed before falling limp and silent.

"Lights up!"

The lights rose and the director gasped her praise, "That was brilliant! Oh, that was just MARVELOUS! Unbelievable!"

Gaara stood up and held his hand out to Rikku, helping her stand.

"Good job," she said with a smile.

He nodded stoically. "You too."

The class had gone to the auditorium so the director could see what she was dealing with in her fourth period class. Gaara and Rikku had paired up to do a vampire skit and went last. Not wanting to be bored, the rest of the students went back to the classroom to continue their games of Bloody Knuckles. (Or in the girls' case, making out.)

A boy standing next to the director's chair that Rikku hadn't seen before clapped and said, "Bravo." He looked like he had hardly been impressed.

The boy had white makeup all over his face with lines drawn on top of it. His hair color was unknown due to the beanie on his head, but his eyes Rikku could see were brown. He looked a year or two older than herself.

He rightened his posture and walked up to the director. "Rena-sensei, I finished copying the theatre websites for you."

"Oh that's wonderful Kankuro. Simply wonderful. I'm so glad I have you to help me," she said. "Did you see their performance?"

Kankuro looked up at Rikku and Gaara, who had both sat down on the edge of the stage and let their legs hang off. They cocked their heads to the right at the same time.

"Yes, I saw. But Rena-sensei, a monster role is one of the few that Gaara can play well. You should have given him something more challenging…like Romeo and Juliet. I would've loved to see him play Romeo."

Gaara rolled his eyes and jumped off the stage and headed out of the auditorium. "Whatever," he said.

Kankuro chuckled at Gaara's frustration.

"Now as for you missy," he pointed to Rikku. "It was…..alright. You screamed too much for my taste."

Her mouth dropped open. "I screamed too much? But that's what people DO when they're scared! Wouldn't you have screamed if a vampire was attacking you?"

"Not if she was hot," he smirked.

Rikku pouted, her eyes showing that she was upset with him. "Well, I only screamed too much for your taste." She slid off the stage and sauntered past Kankuro. "That's what's beautiful about theatre," she turned to look back at him. "You don't have to like everything about it."

As Rena-sensei gathered some extra scripts she had brought, Kankuro ran to catch up with Rikku. "Hey you," he said. She barely looked at him. "Nice panties."

**X X X X X X**

Gaara wasn't really sure why his brother had a huge red mark across his face when he followed Rikku back into the noisy room, but he was positive that his pervertedness had gotten out of hand.

Rikku sat down next to Gaara in a huff.

"That guy is such an asshole!" she said angrily.

Yep.

It had gotten out of hand.

"What did he do this time?" Gaara asked.

Rikku's icy blue eyes looked like they were on fire. "Whenever I fell on stage, he got a good look up my skirt, that's what!" she hissed.

Gaara rolled his eyes. "Figures."

Rikku dropped her anger temporarily and asked, "What figures?"

"Figures he was stupid enough to mention it to you."


	4. Chapter 4

Hinata felt her stomach cry with joy when the bell rang for her lunch. Kiba let out a whoop as he raced out the door, Hinata in tow.

Kiba sped to the front, but despite the fact that she was being pulled along by one of the most athletic (and loud) boys in the school, Hinata soon lost Kiba in the crowds of people.

"Ah! Kiba!" she called, but to no avail.

He was presumably at the front of the lunch line.

Hinata was pushed and jostled and squeezed along as people in the back tried to wiggle their way to the front.

Before she knew it, she was shoved into a boy, pinning them both to the wall. The multitudes of people were like an ocean current; refusing to let anyone enter or leave.

She felt incredibly awkward as her chest was being pressed against the boy she barely knew. Hinata looked up and could have died from embarrassment.

He was drop-dead gorgeous.

With spiky blonde hair and glowing skin, Hinata was in awe of his handsome-ness. And he was so tall! She only reached the middle of his neck.

For some reason unknown to her, he brought his arms around behind her and pulled her closer to him; almost as if he was protecting her. His hands pushed the side of her head against his chest.

And almost as soon as it had started, the herd of hungry students was gone.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Hinata looked up at him again.

He was staring down at her with some of the happiest, bluest eyes she had ever seen.

She turned away and blushed madly. "I-I…I'm fine," she stuttered. "T-thank you."

The boy laughed. "No problem." He held out his hand. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto. What's your name?"

Hinata stared at his hand for a moment before hesitantly taking it. "Hyuuga Hinata."

Naruto's face lit up. "Hey, I think you're in my Science class! How cool is that?"

She smiled a little. "V-very cool."

They started walking down the empty, silent hall towards the cafeteria.

"Hey, do you know Sabaku no Gaara?"

"Y-yes, why?"

"Well, 'cause he's my best friend in the whole world, that's why!"

Hinata giggled to herself.

"I b-believe my friend has a class with him now."

"That's awesome! If Gaara learns how to be social, we could all be like, best buddies!"

Naruto brushed some of his bangs out of his face.

"Hey, who do you sit with for lunch?"

"My friend Inuzuka Kiba…"

"You should invite him over so he can sit with me and my friends Lee and Choji!"

"That sounds like fun."

**X X X X X X X X**

Hinata sat shyly down next to Naruto. At the table already were sitting two young men; one seeming older than the other.

There was a dark-haired boy with a shiny bowl cut and big, friendly, beetle-black eyes. He was skinny, but had a lean, muscular look about him.

The other was the younger of the two, with unkempt strawberry blonde hair. His round cheeks were speckled with crumbs and filled with chips. He was seemingly the opposite of his counterpart, with tanner skin, no self-control concerning his stomach and no motivation to move what-so-ever.

The blonde bombshell smiled brightly and said, "Hey guys, this is Hyuuga Hinata. Hinata, this is Rock Lee," he addressed the slim, dark-haired fellow, "and Akimichi Choji." He pointed to the rotund boy.

She smiled politely and mumbled a hello. Lee grinned at her. "Well hello there!" he said. "I don't think I've seen you here before."

"This is Hinata's first year here," Naruto told him. "She used to go to a private school. Hey Choji, Hinata's in our Science class with Gaara. Isn't that cool?"

Choji didn't say a word. He just stopped eating from his bag of chips and looked up at Hinata, eyeing her closely. After a moment of silence, he offered his bag to her. "Want a chip?" he asked.

Both Naruto and Lee chuckled gleefully. Hinata took one small potato chip and ate it silently, listening to every crunch it made in her mouth.

"What was all that about?" Hinata whispered to Naruto, who still seemed excited.

"Well," he explained. "We've found that Choji is an EXCELLENT judge of character. He doesn't talk much, but we know his way of saying that he approves of someone is by offering them a chip. And it took him like five seconds to figure it out for you! That's probably the fastest he's ever offered it to anyone, eh Lee?"

Lee nodded. "Yeah, I'll say. Hey Naruto, do you remember when he let you have a chip, and you took the whole bag? Oh that was one of the funniest moments I've ever witnessed in all my youth…ah…"

Naruto laughed. "Uh-huh, and then he like, attacked me!"

Choji seemed to be pleased with the mention of his defensive maneuvers.

"Oh hey," Lee said as he looked up. "Here comes TenTen, our Beautiful Flower of Youth!"

"Happy noon tidings!" Naruto called out.

Hinata glanced up.

A girl about a year older than herself was walking towards the table with a confident stride and gorgeous long legs. She had dark brown hair, held up in a traditional Chinese double-bun style, and sweet brown eyes. Her skin was not as pale as Hinata or Rikku's, but it was lighter than Naruto and Choji's.

"Hello everyone!" she said. "Sorry I'm late. That lunch line took FOREVER!" She laughed at her incompetence.

That's when she noticed Hinata.

"Hi, are you new? Gosh, I'm such an idiot. My name's TenTen. What's yours? Hm, you look really familiar. Are you sure we haven't met?"

Hinata was silent for a moment before she began to laugh.

"This is Hyuuga Hinata. I met her today and offered our table to her services!" Naruto explained while Hinata was incapable of answering.

"Wait…" TenTen said thoughtfully. "Hyuuga…as in, 'related-to-Neji' Hyuuga?"

The pale-eyed sophomore stopped laughing immediately.

"U-um…y-y-yes. He's my c-cousin."

"Well, I'm sorry if I offend you or anything, but I cannot stand him! Urgh, he's such a jerk! He's the reason I took so long in the lunch line! You know, he…"

TenTen's voice was drowned by Hinata's thinking.

Someone hated Neji. A girl actually hated Neji. A girl hated Neji!

Hinata felt like she could scream with ecstasy.

"But you know Hinata; you don't seem a thing like him. The two of you are like, polar opposites! Other than the fact that neither of you talk much, but we can overlook that. I bet you're just shy while he's a fucking bastard!"

Naruto laughed. "That sounds a lot like my friend Gaara! He's so antisocial; I'd be surprised if he ever made a friend without my help!"

* * *

Gaara decided to let her sit with him. He said not to make it a habit; he was only doing this until she made other friends. He preferred being alone to listening to girls talk about unimportant things like their hair, cute boys, and their breast size. (He heard enough of the latter from both his siblings.)

Despite what he said, Rikku laughed. Gaara was the first friend she made without Hinata's help. Not that Hinata was a social butterfly…but it still made Rikku feel good about herself.

"You were really good today," she told him.

He looked up from the lunch he made.

"What?"

"You were really good. I thought you were really in character when you were playing the vampire." She smiled. "Not many guys I know can REALLY get in character that easily."

Gaara glanced down at his measly sandwich.

"Kankuro doesn't seem to think so."

Rikku groaned. "I thought we already discussed the fact that he's an asshole!"

"Who's an asshole?"

Kankuro dropped his food and sat down next to Gaara.

Rikku was so shocked that she nearly fell off her chair. "Gah! Where did you come from?" she asked.

Kankuro mussed up Gaara's hair. "Hey baby bro."

He turned to Rikku. "To answer your question, I came from my mother's womb. And to answer my question, who's an asshole?"

"Y-you?" Rikku stuttered, reminding herself of Hinata. "You're his brother?"

Kankuro shrugged. "Yeah, we're brothers. We have a sister too, but Temari's a senior. Isn't that right, baby Gaa?"

Gaara crossed his arms and slunk down in his seat. "Shut-up," he said menacingly.

Kankuro laughed. "Gaara hates it when I call him that," he told Rikku. "By the way, I never caught your name."

"You didn't catch my name, but you managed to catch a glimpse of my underwear. You're so charming." Rikku said sarcastically as she narrowed her eyes.

He laughed again. "Damn, sitting at this table sure makes me feel wanted. Oh hey, Itachi! Over here!"

A very tall boy with long, dark hair and blood red eyes walked over and high-fived Kankuro. They both laughed together at their nerdiness.

"Wow, we're going to sit with sophomores this year? I feel so old!" Itachi whined.

Kankuro grabbed Itachi's arm and shoved him into the seat next to him and across from Rikku.

Rikku could see why he felt old. He certainly LOOKED old from what she could see, in a mature, sexy kind of way. But she didn't like the bags under his eyes. There was no color in them, but the skin looked tired.

He grinned at her. "You're cute," he said, leaning his chin on his palm.

She smiled softly in return and twirled a strand of her dark hair. "Thanks," she replied.

Kankuro nudged Itachi with his elbow. "You think her face is cute, you should see her-."

Gaara reached for the apple in his lunch and threw it at Kankuro, pegging him in the face. "Leave Rikku alone," he said. His eyes narrowed dangerously at his brother.

Itachi and Kankuro looked at each other and chuckled to themselves.

Before Rikku knew it, another boy sat down.

Her eyes widened.

It was Sasuke! That boy from the other night!

He glared at Itachi and growled, "I don't know why you keep making me come here."

Itachi giggled and patted Sasuke on the head. "You silly boy! I'm you're older brother, so you have to do what I say! And besides, do you want those nasty girls to keep coming up to you if you sit by yourself?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and nodded to Gaara. Gaara repeated the greeting.

"But Itachi," Sasuke said. "If you're going to make me sit with you, I get to bring a friend with me."

Itachi raised a perfect eyebrow. "Who did you have in mind?"

"Shino."

Itachi groaned. "Fiiiine, just make sure that Bug Boy knows not to touch me. I don't want to get infected with his weirdness."

Kankuro shrugged. "At least it's not Neji," he told Itachi.

Rikku felt any color she had drain out of her face. If Neji had this lunch, he might see her! And then their plot would be ruined!

Sasuke motioned to another table and Shino came over.

Shino immediately noticed Rikku, but didn't say anything.

She slunk down in her seat a little bit.

Oh, this was not good!

"Hey Blue, you got a name?" Itachi asked.

Rikku blinked before looking at Itachi.

"What?" she asked.

Kankuro raised an eyebrow. "What?" he asked.

It wasn't just Kankuro. Everyone looked to Itachi like he had just spoken Mongolian.

"Well," he explained. "Look at her eyes. They're like, this super pretty blue! That's why I called her Blue."

Sasuke cocked his head. "Hm…they are really blue."

"Yeah, I'll say." Kankuro nodded.

All five guys; Itachi, Kankuro, Gaara, Sasuke, and Shino; were scrutinizing her like she had an enormous zit on her nose or like she had a birthmark on her forehead that looked like Michael Jackson.

Rikku wasn't sure she liked sitting at Gaara's table if it was always going to be like this. She had never been used to being surrounded by this much testosterone before in her life, and now they were all examining her like a piece of art.

The moment the bell rang, Rikku shot off like a rocket on the Fourth of July for class.


	5. Chapter 5

Hinata and Rikku met up in the last class of the day.

Science.

They walked in together, laughing about what had happened in their previous class, when Hinata was pounced on by Naruto with a hug.

"But sought! My lovely Hinata! How hath thy pined away with the sight of thou's lovely visage gone from thine eyes!" Naruto recited, throwing one arm out for a bit of dramatic flair.

Hinata blushed brightly while Rikku laughed.

Naruto chuckled. "I just came from Shake Lit," he explained.

"H-hello Naruto," Hinata murmured shyly.

"So THIS is the Naruto you were talking about," Rikku said.

Naruto batted his eyelashes happily. "Thine name hast been whispered from Hinata's lips? I have been blessed with her beauty and grace!"

Rikku laughed harder as Hinata's temperature rose.

"Naruto, what are you doing?"

The three turned to the doorway.

Gaara came in apathetically. "You embarrass me," he said as he walked past them.

Rikku looked down to watch the short red-head go to the back of the room.

"Oh PLEASE Gaara! How can I embarrass you? I don't even embarrass myself!" Naruto shouted.

"Dear lord, we have Science with him? Shoot me," Ino said as she strutted in with Sakura in tow, who giggled at Ino's comment.

Naruto's attention shifted wholly to Sakura. "Hi Sakura!" he said eagerly. "What's up? How was your day? Do you need any help?"

Hinata's face fell from pleased embarrassment to painful shock. Rikku shot a worried glance to her friend before returning her gaze to Naruto. She placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder.

Sakura glared at Naruto. "My day was just fine before you started bugging me. Leave me alone."

Rikku came up behind the Hyuuga and wrapped her arms around Hinata, resting her chin on Hinata's right shoulder comfortingly as Hinata sighed sadly and trudged to the back of the room.

Hinata sat down next to Rikku, who sat next to Gaara, and sighed again. She buried her head in her arms in defeat.

Rikku patted Hinata's back before leaning over to give Gaara a quick hug.

His eyes widened.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked.

She looked up. "Giving you a hug."

"Stop touching me!"

Rikku backed off and rolled her eyes. "Gosh, does every guy here have to be such a jerk?"

Gaara raised an eyebrow. Rikku looked closer and realized-

"You don't have any eyebrows!"

Gaara raised his eyebrow muscle higher.

"You just figured that out?"

"As a matter of fact, yes."

"You're so weird, Takahashi."

Rikku pouted angrily and looked forward to watch Naruto try his best to charm Sakura into sitting next to him.

"I am not…" she muttered.

**X X X X X X X X X**

The science teacher, Kakashi-sensei, came in twenty minutes late.

"Sorry I'm late class! You see, the janitor was in need of some supplies and…oh never mind. Let's get to the seating arrangement."

"But you said we could sit wherever we want!" Naruto cried.

Kakashi scrutinized Naruto. "Yes, I did say that. But now I'm saying that we get a seating chart."

The whole class groaned and Rikku and Hinata clutched each other's hand.

"Alright, the seating chart is divided into three people per table. These people will not only sit with you, but will be your lab partners. The seating chart is as follows:

"Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino."

Hinata squeezed Rikku's hand as she stood up to leave.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke."

Naruto squealed with delight as he sat next to Sakura, who was too busy admiring Sasuke to notice.

"Akimichi Choji, Yamanaka Ino, and Nara Shikamaru."

Ino looked like she was going to rip Kakashi-sensei's head off.

He continued on down the list until he called, "Sabaku no Gaara and Takahashi Rikku."

Rikku looked up. "There are only two of us," she said, stating the obvious.

Kakashi shrugged. "If someone new comes, they'll be your partner."

Rikku nodded before smirking at Gaara. "Guess you're stuck with me."

"Yippee."

* * *

"So tell me Takahashi, do you prefer acting like an idiot every time you have to do something that even remotely involves the use of your brain, or does it just come naturally?"

Rikku glared at Gaara as she tried to stack her chair on the table without it falling off.

Gaara was leaning against the back wall, watching her fail miserably again and again.

It was the end of the day, with five minutes to go until the bell rang.

Kakashi was having them stack their chairs on their tables so he didn't have to do it himself. Nobody was having as much trouble as Rikku with the simple task.

Gaara cocked a small smile. "You're pathetic."

"So tell me Sabaku, do you take pride in making people cut themselves, or does it just come naturally?" Rikku hissed angrily.

He raised an eyebrow muscle.

Rikku sighed as her chair came crashing down to the tile again.

"You keep making fun of me. You keep making my self-esteem lower. You keep making me want to shoot myself. Apparently you're good at it." She shot him a stronger glare.

Gaara rolled his eyes but said nothing.

Hinata walked over to Rikku, her eyes filled with humor. As Rikku attempted to put the chair on the table, Hinata gently pulled the chair from her hands and balanced it perfectly on the fake wood.

"How'd you do that?" Rikku gasped with wonder.

Gaara said sarcastically, "She used her brain."

Hinata prevented Rikku from mauling the small red-head by saying, "It's all practice Rikku. You'll get it eventually."

"You think so?" Rikku smiled happily.

"I know so."

The bell rang and the students all walked out, some with more excitement than others.

Gaara shuffled out after a few people and Naruto squeezed through to catch up to his friend. Rikku and Hinata let everyone else head out the door before they started leaving.

Hinata glanced around to make sure no one was within hearing distance before she started a conversation.

"How are we going to do this?" Hinata asked.

Rikku cocked an eyebrow in her direction. "Wha'dya mean?"

"How are we going to prove to your parents that you were at school instead of here?"

Rikku put a finger on her lip and remained silent.

Hinata gave her friend a look. "I know that face," she said. "You're going to think of something incredibly stupid, making it sound intelligent, and convince me to be a part of it."

"What if I just went over to your house after school?"

A very simple idea.

There was nothing half-brained, ridiculous, or stunt-involving about it.

Just a simple idea.

Hinata blinked with wide eyes, shocked that Rikku created an idea so brilliantly simple.

"Well...sure. Why not? What could go wrong?"

* * *

A lot of things actually.

What Rikku and Hinata didn't put into consideration was the fact that they had different uniforms at the public school than the private school.

There was also the matter of Neji and his friends.

How would they explain that?

Hinata pressed her hands to her face and squirmed, sliding down against the brick wall of the outside of school.

Rikku looked down at her, her fingers twirling a strand of her dark hair.

"Chill out," Rikku said calmly.

"Chill out? Chill out? How am I supposed to chill out when we may blow our cover on the first day thanks to your stupid idea?" Hinata hissed vehemently.

Rikku smiled. "It can't be that stupid. You went right along with my idea without any problem at all. You should have known me better Hinata. I can't think of something that smart with that amount of time given to me. It was just an idea."

Hinata sighed wearily. "I know...I'm sorry Ri. I'm just so nervous about this. I mean, what if we get caught?"

Rikku laughed giddily.

"I told you before! That's what makes breaking the rules so much more fun! The suspense of whether you'll get caught or not!" she said.

To solve their problem, they followed another idea of Rikku's: walk home.

"If we walk home, than Neji will already be at your house and will either be in his room or be too preoccupied with the TV to notice what I'm wearing. You can make it look like you walked to my school and picked me up on the way home."

As they started walking, Hinata said, "Oh, I forgot to ask how your drama class was."

Rikku blinked for a moment, trying to figure out how to explain what had happened.

"Well..." she began slowly. "It started with me walking in and seeing this red-headed guy..."


	6. Chapter 6

"...And that's what happened!" Rikku finished with a flourish of her arms right as they reached Hinata's doorstep.

"Wow, that sounds interesting," Hinata murmured as her hand fumbled through her pocket to find her house key. "Oh darn, where did I put that thing?"

She looked up from her searches to find that Rikku was twisting the key into the lock and pushing the door open. She raised an eyebrow. "How'd you do that?"

Rikku brought her hands to her eyes and drew them away, wiggling her fingers. "I'm magic!" she whispered in a serious tone.

Hinata rolled her eyes and slapped Rikku upside the head.

"Ouch!" Rikku exclaimed. "What was that for?"

Hinata laughed and said, "To knock some sense into you, that's what!"

The two laughed together and walked in the house.

"So Rena-sensei told us that we get to partner up and start working on duet scenes to perform for the class, and I'm so excited! She also told us about the fall production auditions!" Rikku said as they headed up the stairs to Hinata's room to unload all of their things.

"Did she say what it was going to be?" Hinata asked, kicking off her shoes before she followed Rikku.

Rikku nodded excitedly. "Yeah, she said that they were going to do 'The Demon of Notre Dame'! I'm so excited I could SING...!"

She erupted into loud, opera-like notes that echoed across the entire empty house.

Hinata couldn't help but to laugh at her friend's antics.

"What part are you going to try out for?" Hinata raised her voice so that it could be heard over Rikku's symphony of happiness.

Rikku suddenly silenced herself as she reached the top of the staircase. She flung herself to the rail and clung to it dramatically before she tilted her head back and wheezed, "THE STAR!"

Hinata laughed so hard she fell over backwards and tumbled down several stairs.

Rikku's eyes widened as she hurried to Hinata's silent, facedown side. "Oh my God, Hinata, are you ok? Hinata? HINATA?"

Hinata started shaking violently.

"Hinata speak to me!" Rikku pleaded.

Hinata weakly turned herself over. She was laughing so hard that no sound was coming out. She wheezed out a breath before she cracked into hysterics again.

Rikku couldn't help but laugh herself. "Hina don't scare me like that!" she said, pushing Hinata playfully.

"You...you...you should...have...you should have seen yourself!" Hinata coughed out among the laughter.

They both collapsed onto the tile floor, giddy.

* * *

Hinata winced as she looked at the enormous purple bruise on her thigh.

Neji looked at the bruise from the driver's seat.

"What the hell did Takahashi do to you last night?" he asked.

She chuckled shakily, remembering how she had hurt herself. It was still funny. "I never said it had anything to do with Rikku," she replied. "And keep your eyes on the road."

Neji turned into the student parking lot roughly, taking Hinata's road-advice to heart. "You didn't have to. That bruise has 'Rikku' written all over it."

She laughed a little. "I fell down the stairs, that's all," she smiled.

He shifted the stick to 'P' and stopped the car in his parking spot. "You fell down the stairs? I'm surprised you didn't break your leg!"

Hinata laughed again and opened her car door.

Neji shut his door and half-ran to catch up to his accident-prone cousin. "You could have killed yourself!"

"Oh please," Hinata said, rolling her eyes.

Neji gave her a concerned look. "I think you shouldn't hang out with Rikku as much as you do. It's not healthy."

Hinata raised her eyebrows and looked at Neji. "What did you just tell me to do?"

"To stop hanging out with Rikku as much."

"Since when did you care what I do and don't do?"

"Since it started being hazardous to your life!"

"Since when did you care?"

Hinata stormed off in a huff, leaving Neji to ponder what had just happened and to wonder when Hinata had gotten such a boost of confidence.

* * *

Hinata was unnaturally quiet as Rikku explained the plot of the fall production to her in the spare time in Algebra.

Rikku fiddled with the long bow that held the long, face-framing bangs from her deep side part out of her face. "Come on Hinata? What's bothering you? You're not listening to the best part! It's when the demon of the bell-tower finds out the love of his life is a demon too!"

"Sorry Rikku," Hinata sighed. "I just had a fight with Neji this morning, that's all."

Rikku scooted closer to Hinata. "What?" she asked, surprised. "You had a fight and didn't tell me?"

Hinata sighed again and laid her head in her arms. "Forget it, Ri. It's not important."

Rikku raised an eyebrow, obviously not fooled. "Oh please Hinata. I'm not THAT stupid. As much as I may look it..." she added as an afterthought.

The bell rang and everybody gathered their things, heading for their next class or lunch. Hinata walked with Rikku down the hall amidst the crowds of hungry teenagers.

"Just forget it," Hinata said drearily and slumped off to her next class.

Rikku sadly watched her friend go before she hurried to the theatre room.

She bumped into Gaara on her way there.

"Well hey Gaara," she said, slightly weary. "How are you?"

"A bit disturbed," he replied.

She gave him an odd look. "Why's that?" she asked.

"I saw your face."

Her face narrowed to a central point to prove she was angry. "Stupid," she muttered as she quickened her pace to get to the drama room first.

Even if he didn't visibly show it, Gaara realized it was a mistake to joke with her at that time and tried to make amends for it. In a Gaara sort of way, of course.

"So..." he said awkwardly.

She seemed a little upset about something. He wasn't sure what though.

"Are you...trying out for...the show?"

Rikku looked at him, most of her anger replaced with indifference.

He had obviously struck a positive chord.

"Yeah, why? Are you trying out too?"

He shook his head. "Kankuro has forbidden me from being involved with any outside-of-the-classroom theater. He says it's his thing."

"Oh," Rikku murmured. "That's too bad. You should try out anyways."

Gaara looked at her with his mint-green eyes.

"Why do you say that?"

Rikku smiled. "Even if you don't make it, audition experience is always vital to making a prepared actor."

"Where'd you hear that, an 'Acting for Dummies' book?"

Rikku laughed slightly. "No, it's what my old drama teacher told me."

"Oh," Gaara said, nodding.

She smiled at him.

"What?" he asked.

She smiled a little wider. "Oh, nothing," she said with a bit of humor.

"What?" he asked again, a bit more strain on his voice.

She laughed and hurried to the drama room before the bell rang.

* * *

If Hinata had been in a bad mood before, she wasn't any more. Despite the fact that Naruto obviously was in love with someone else, his enthused personality was contagious. He found joy in nearly everything he did and Hinata couldn't help not staying mad at Neji.

"And then the lady says, 'I don't know, how about you?'" Kiba, Naruto, and Choji all exploded into laughter after the punch line of the joke.

TenTen rolled her eyes. "Boys," she muttered at the crude joke.

Even though Hinata had found the joke slightly offensive, she couldn't be angry seeing her friends so happy. She couldn't help but laugh as well.

Lee turned up his nose and shoveled a fork-load of food into his mouth.

"What's the matter Lee? You too high and mighty to have fun?" Naruto prodded at Lee's behavior.

The junior shook his head vigorously. "Of course not. My youthfulness enables me to be the center of fun." Naruto and Choji chuckled at this. "I just find that your humor is mocking a young lady's honor."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Oh please Lee, I know you're just as horny as the rest of us guys!"

"Prove it."

"All right then Lee! I accept your challenge!"

"Oho! So it's a challenge you want, is it?"

TenTen's head fell against the table. "Oh no," came the muffled groan from her mouth.

Naruto grinned impishly. "It's on!" he proclaimed.

"TenTen, my lovely flower of youth, sit up! You are required to participate in this round!" Lee cried.

TenTen sat up robotically with a look of loath and defeat on her face.

Naruto, the grin still on his face, stated authoritatively, "I dare you to make out with TenTen, right here and now!"

TenTen's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"I accept your dare!" Lee said.

All the while, Kiba and Choji kept cracking up. Hinata wasn't sure what to believe. Her mind was going in all sorts of directions.

Lee's hands were clamped to either side of TenTen's face, and he was trying his hardest to bring his puckered lips to hers. She, on the other hand, was trying her hardest to move her face away from his. Her hands were pressed to his face, and her gritted teeth showed she wanted to be as far away from him as possible.

"N-Naruto!" Lee sputtered out, still attempting to kiss a vicious-looking TenTen. "I dare you to make out with Hinata! Right here and now!"

"RAPE! RAPE!" TenTen cried.

Hinata's eyes widened. A challenge for Naruto to MAKE OUT with her? Her face turned a steady, glowing, bright red. And it looked like Naruto was dead-serious about beating Lee in whatever manner he could!

OH MY GOD!

"Alrighty, I will!" Naruto said.

Hinata's hands started to shake.

Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no!

"Hinata are you okay?" Kiba asked. "You look a little warm."

"U-uh...I-I-I-I...u-u-um..."

Words weren't forming right in her mouth. She couldn't gather her thoughts together correctly.

Naruto scooted closer to her.

What was she going to do?

* * *

**_(Note from the Author: Merry Christmas!)_**


	7. Chapter 7

"Hinata, what the fuck are you doing?"

Hinata was jolted away from her nervousness and the incoming kiss to see a very irked, very angry, very shocked older cousin.

"N-Neji!" she squeaked with a stutter.

She had completely forgotten he had this lunch.

Oh shit.

He narrowed his pale, milky eyes at Naruto. "What were you doing to my cousin?" he asked with a very serious, very deadly tone that could only be achieved by Hyuuga Neji.

Naruto looked stricken. "Well, you see, there was this dare we had and..."

"Save it," Neji hissed.

Neji then proceeded to glance around at the inhabitants of the table. Kiba had shrunk down in his chair for fear of being vaporized by the wrath of Hyuuga Neji. Choji had hidden his bag of chips to save them from this evil beast.

As for TenTen, who was still trying to remove Lee from her face, and Lee, who was still attempting to kiss TenTen, Neji scoffed at them.

"Well TenTen, I suppose the company you keep says a lot about you," he sneered.

Even from the mass of hands and hair, you could tell that TenTen was irked from what he said. Her brown eyes narrowed and her hands clenched up on Lee's face.

She slowly brought up one of her legs from beneath the table, extending it to its fullest length. It almost appeared that she was showing off in front of him. Then, she kicked Lee in the gut to remove him. It worked.

Lee doubled over and slid backwards in his chair a few feet. He then fell off his chair in pain.

She straightened out her composure before she said anything to Neji.

"For your information, Hyuuga," she spat venomously. "I never once wanted him to come near me. And I never gave you permission to come near me and say things like that." She stood up at full height and walked right up to Neji. She was almost as tall as him.

"So you can just take your self and your bad attitude back where they came from and leave us alone, you filthy, disgusting, bastardly son of a bitch!"

Neji merely smiled at TenTen. He leaned towards her and said, "You're almost pretty when you're angry."

Veins popped out on TenTen's forehead. Naruto and Choji sprung into action. They both grabbed onto TenTen's arms to prevent her from killing Neji.

"Why, you-! HYUUGA NEJI YOU POMPOUS ASSHOLE!" she shrieked. She screamed and kicked and tried to pull free from her captivation, but it was to no avail. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Neji stepped back with a look of apathetic glee. "Hinata, we'll finish this discussion at home. And you'd better not bring Rikku with you today. I'm not in the mood for her."

Hinata collapsed into the back of her chair in defeat.

* * *

Rikku and Gaara had gotten some scripts of the fall production for auditions and were running through them when Kankuro, who had finished kissing up to Rena-sensei, walked over with a stack of papers in his hands.

"What're you doing?" he asked.

Rikku raised her eyebrows and completely and purposefully ignored him. She focused deeply on her script, finding much more interest than was normal for human behavior.

Gaara's eyes peeked over the script. "We're practicing," he said quietly.

"For what?" Kankuro questioned.

"It's for the play." Gaara averted his eyes. Rikku stopped being so interested in her script to watch the two brothers talking.

"Oh really?" Kankuro gave Gaara a smarmy look. "Are you auditioning?"

"No," Rikku interrupted quickly. Both Gaara and Kankuro stared at her. "He's... uh...he's... helping me get ready for auditions."

She grinned nervously under the scrutiny of the brothers.

A twisted smile crept onto Kankuro's face. "Well missy, what's say you practice with a REAL actor?"

Rikku gave an unsure glance to Gaara, who shrugged angrily and turned away.

"Well...okay..." she mumbled.

Kankuro set down the stack of papers and said, "All right, stand up."

"But why?" Rikku asked. "We were just doing a read-through."

The older of the Sabaku brothers glared at her and said, "This will help you get more comfortable with the lines. Now stand up!" he commanded.

She did what he said, slightly surprised at his assertiveness.

"Now, I'll read the part of the demon and you read the part of...what's her name?"

Rikku crossed her arms and glanced away, glaring. "Her name's La, you asshole."

Although he may have been upset by the insult, he quickly brushed it off and told her, "We'll start reading on page 32, top of the page. They start with my lines."

"Who said we had to do what you said?" Rikku sassed.

"Since I was the better actor!" Kankuro replied.

She narrowed her eyes dangerously and hissed venomously, "You don't have any idea what I'm capable of if you're calling me a bad actress."

They both glared at each other before Gaara said, "Why don't you just start reading already?"

They both muttered, "Fine," and flipped to page 32.

Kankuro began reciting, "Why do you hate my master?"

His voice was soft and weak and innocent and naïve and hurt all at once. Even without looking at him, Kankuro seemed more deformed. His face looked sad and trusting.

Rikku turned away in a huff. "Because...he hurts you." She suddenly swiveled at an angle to Kankuro, gliding to his side. She delicately laid her hands on his arm, looking up at his face. She would glance at the script every now and then, but still held her intensity. "He mistreats you. He takes advantage of one of the most valuable gifts a person can give."

Kankuro angled his face to Rikku's, their faces almost touching. "La, what gift is that?" he whispered in a manner that seemed he was almost afraid his breath would cloud up and blow in her face.

She brought her hand up and dragged it against his upstage cheek. She brought her lips right up to his. "Trust."

"Oh, well MY HEAVENS! That was fantastic! Just simply tear-jerking!"

Rikku immediately put three feet between herself and Kankuro to listen to Rena-sensei's critique.

"Oh I have NEVER seen such a display of emotions in all my life! You are simply heart-rending! I couldn't think of using anyone with such chemistry but you! There is such a feeling behind it, I can tell!"

Rena-sensei swarmed up to Kankuro, kissing him once on the cheek, before she did the same to Rikku. "I adore you both!"

Rikku looked awkwardly at Gaara, who had his arms crossed over his chest and was glaring off in another direction.

* * *

The rest of the week passed by uneventfully for both Hinata and Rikku. Hinata still felt very strongly about Naruto, despite what Neji had threatened her with. (The idea of him killing Naruto wasn't enough to scare Hinata.) Rikku had attended auditions for the show. She had had to audition with Kankuro on several occasions, much to her dismay. Kankuro had brought along Gaara to the auditions, much to her delight. She felt that she was making a real connection with Gaara. Rikku was still waiting for news on the cast list.

Hinata and Rikku hadn't been able to hang out much the rest of that week because Neji kept a constant eye on Hinata after school to make sure she didn't run off to commit suicide with Rikku or get pregnant with Naruto. He saw them both as influential people who could convince Hinata to throw her life away. He was also still sore about Hinata's lashing back during their argument. Neji viewed that as Rikku's fault.

It was a Friday night and Hinata was feeling incredibly bored. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail to keep it out of her face. She was wearing gray sweatpants that crept past her toes and a plain, Easter egg purple fitted t-shirt.

Hinata was curled up on the couch in her family room, watching TV, when Neji looked over the bar at her from the kitchen. He stood on the other side of the island that was in the middle of the kitchen and was leaning against it, eating a bowl of rice.

All of a sudden, the phone rang. Neji reached over to the counter and grabbed the cordless phone, pressing the 'Talk' button and pressing it to his ear. "Hello?" he asked. His apathetic face instantly turned to frustration.

Hinata looked up over at him from the couch. "What is it Neji?" she asked.

He narrowed his eyes and mouthed something. Hinata could hear the loud, incoherent voice still talking on the other end of the line.

"I don't know what you're saying," she told him, still wondering who had called.

"Hello Takahashi," he mumbled. "Yeah, Hinata's right here." Neji half-heartedly left the kitchen and walked around to where Hinata was sitting to give her the cordless phone. He gave her a look before walking away to finish his rice.

"Hi Hinata!" came the squeak from the other end.

Hinata couldn't help but laugh. "Hi Rikku." It felt so good to hear Rikku's voice after spending so much time in solitude thanks to Neji's rage. "What's up?"

"Well, I know Neji's all pissed off at you and has you under house arrest and everything," Hinata could tell Rikku was starting to suggest something. "But I wanted you to take a break from the dull life of a Hyuuga and come watch some movies with me at my house!"

Hinata looked at the blur of the TV screen thoughtfully. "Hmm...Why not?" she said.

"Hey Neji?" she called, careful to turn the end of the phone she talked in away from her mouth so she wouldn't deafen Rikku. "Can I go over to Rikku's house to watch some movies?"

Neji swallowed his mouthful of rice before he gave her a look.

"N-not as a sleepover!" Hinata stuttered nervously. She was so eager to get out of the house and hang out with Rikku that she was willing to do just about anything. "Only to watch some movies!"

She made her eyes big and innocent and frowned. Her eyebrows narrowed in and she bit her lower lip. "P-please brother?

Reverting back to her innocent, fragile nature always seemed to strike a sensitive spot inside of Neji. Hinata had learned long ago that Neji didn't like to see her in such a delicate state of sadness and used the emotion to her advantage. Calling him 'brother' was also a lethal combination when mixed with pouting cutely.

He raised the white flag almost immediately after the battle had started.

"Alright," he groaned in defeat, setting down his bowl of rice and grabbing his car keys from right beside the phone's charging point. "Fine. Let's go."

"Did he say yes?" Rikku asked.

"YAY!" Hinata squealed uncharacteristically.

Rikku laughed. "I'll take that as a yes. I guess I will see you in a few minutes!"

"Bye Rikku!" Hinata immediately hung up the phone and ran to hug her cousin. "Neji, you're the best!"

He couldn't but smile a little. "Just get in the car," he said. Hinata scuttled to find some slippers before following Neji into the garage to the car.

* * *

Hinata sprang to Rikku's porch and rang the doorbell.

It was dark outside with a midnight velvet sky, and at Rikku's slightly old house the doorbell glowed a gas-lamp orange against the dark brick.

Rikku had a wealthy family, but not near as wealthy as the Hyuuga's. She had an average-sized house and was the only child in her family to not share a room with another sibling. There were only three bedrooms besides the master bedroom, and so she got a room to herself while her four brothers were divided into groups of two and sent off to other rooms. Two of her brothers were older than her, while there was an unnatural age-gap between her and her younger brothers.

In her family there was Aoshi, who was twenty-one and a junior in a prestigious college; Sudoshi, who was newly a freshman in college and the closest to Rikku; Rikku, who was the middle child at fifteen-years-old; Hashi, who was very close to turning eight; and Roshi, who was only five.

Hinata listened to the doorbell chime and heard the sounds of Rikku's house come to life. Aoshi's two dogs barked loudly and their claws skidded across the hardwood floor to reach the door and scare away the intruder. Roshi chased the two dogs, hollering and screaming as he held five racecars in his small, grubby hands. The blare of the TV was turned up, presumably by Sudoshi, the most apathetic and punk-rock of the bunch. Aoshi shouted for his dogs to settle down. Hashi was, Hinata could guess, upstairs in his and Roshi's room playing some new RPG with lots of blood and violence. Even at seven-years-old, he thought himself too cool to hang out with his family. Something thudded loudly and quickly down the stairs. Hinata knew it was Rikku.

The lock twisted on the other side of the door and it opened suddenly. Rikku, whose hair was falling out of its ponytail, caught her breath and kept the dogs from running outside and investigating the world.

"Hi!" she exclaimed breathlessly. "Come on in!"

When the dogs realized it was Hinata, they soon lost interest in the newcomer and left to go sit by Aoshi, who was still calling for them from the kitchen. Roshi followed the dogs, still excited from the sudden burst of energy.

Rikku called, "Sudo, can you turn that down? Hinata's over and I'd rather you weren't deaf by twenty!" The volume of the TV lowered and Hinata heard a voice ring out, "Hey Hinata!"

She smiled. "Hello Sudoshi."

Rikku quickly tromped up the stairs to her room, Hinata in tow. Hinata knew Rikku's house like the back of her hand, just as Rikku had quickly memorized hers. They hurried up the stairs and took a right at the top of the staircase to go to Rikku's room.

One thing Hinata liked about Rikku's house was that all of the floors were made of slick wood. There was no carpet unless a rug was laid down. Hinata loved the feeling of the chilled floor against her sweaty toes.

Rikku's room was very plain. The walls were a cream color; she commonly referred to it as beeswax. Her bed was in the corner farthest away from the door. It was littered with various stuffed animals she had collected over the years, most of them consisting of the 'fish' nature. The bedding was a bright aqua. The only other bits of furniture in her room were a dresser and a nightstand. A TV was on the top of the dresser.

There were two more accessories in her room than Hinata was accustomed to.

Sitting against the wall on the floor were Uzumaki Naruto and Sabaku no Gaara, both intently watching a movie on the TV.


End file.
